Muniamah, a worker on an oil palm plantation in Malaysia, wakes up at 4am every day to cook for her husband, in-laws and children before she reports for work.

A mother of seven schoolgoing children, she is also the sole breadwinner in the family as her husband is sick.

She earns between RM200-300 per month, but cannot earn more as she is chronically unwell herself, with headaches, backache and a rash on her hands and legs.

"I have no choice (but to push on). The children need to eat. I have no other skills and I am no longer young," said Muniamah, 46.

Ratini, 44, said she was seven months pregnant when she informed her Indonesian employer of her condition - and was scolded for having 'cheated' by having taken a day's leave allocated each month to menstruating women.

The management deducted her salary for those days and forced her to spray pesticide even during her pregnancy, she said.

"I could not ask for another job. I continued spraying till the month I gave birth and my baby was small compared to my previous children," said the mother of six.

"He only weighed 2 kg compared to my eldest child who weighed 5 kg. After three months, my son developed rashes on his legs and body and I had to buy medicine for him."

In The Philippines, Joy, 42, has had a persistent itch on her hips and legs for more than a month. She has tried all kinds of creams from the local sundry shop to treat the condition, but to no avail.

She cannot take time off from work on a farm to seek treatment at the nearest clinic, a two-hour bus ride from where she lives.

They maybe countries apart but these women have several things in common - poverty, work- related problems, poor health and the fact that they are sprayers of the herbicide, paraquat.